DEEP 68 Impact sees Motoya returned his Flyweight belt, and the usual suspects all win

DEEP 68 Impact took place on August 23, 2014 in Tokyo with the Flyweight Championship given back to Yuki Motoya by choking out Tatsumitsu Wada.

At the top of the card, the Flyweight Championship was contested between champ Wada and challenger Motoya. A largely uneventful first round saw both fighters picking solo shots from outside, with Motoya edging a stronger offense via few barrages in close.

Motoya came out much stronger in the second and found a trip that allowed him to take Wada’s back standing. Wada let him slip off the top but Motoya only used the opportunity to latch on to his leg and sweep to a very painful inverted half guard.

Eventually, after some softening with punches, Motoya was able to step out of the guard and grab back mount. He sunk in a choke to win the belt back.

DEEP 68 Yuki Motoya vs Tatsumitsu Wada

Main Card

Kazunori Yokota played his cautious striking game against Kagiyama Yusuke. Yusuke thought he had control with a back take and trip, but Yokota was holding a kimura which he used to reverse the fall and land on top, getting a tap out virtually in the process.

Peter Cepeda shot for a double which was a very bad decision. Michihiro Omigawa, stuffed it, did an overhead reverse to mount, and choked out his late notice opponent.

Toshiaki Kitada versus Joong Geun Kang was also indeed a squash match as expected with Kitada pounding out the inexperienced Korean in quick order.

Kota Ishibashi and Yuya “Monkey” Shibata play their strengths from the word go: Ishibashi blasts Shibata in the face and Shibata is able to somehow get an arm bar out of the deal. A faulty trip sees Shibata take Ishibashi’s back for the end of the round. The second works the same way, only Shibata is able to clamp on a triangle, evade the punches, and takedown at will, sealing himself the W.

Hibiki Tamura and Youichi Fukumoto traded striking and takedowns for an entire round, with Tamura’s knees and kicks edging him ahead on the scorecards. Fukumoto turned up the heat with his striking in the second and was able to cut Tamura’s brow, and burned to the bell with a back take and sub attempts. With one round each, the fight was ruled a Draw.

Preliminary fights

Juri Ohara came at Yasuaki Kishimoto looking for a fistfight. Kishimoto repeatedly took him down as punishment, finally slapping on an arm bar for the tap.

Kim Jae-Kyung came out not wanting to be the underdog and assaulted Sota Kojima with punches and trip attempts, but Kojima returned both favors in spades hough Kim’s granite chin held up. Kim got a great throw into the second, but then spent four minutes defending off his back. A lucky dive in saw Kim get an arm bar that Kojima easily defended by punching his way out.

Takaaki Aoki and Kimihiro Eto circled each other and darted in and out with sporadic kicks and punches for most of the first round until Eto did a belly to belly suplex and landed in guard where he tried to pass to the bell. Aoki seemed to have some problems standing as the second opened, and his corner threw in the towel.

Yuki Takano utilized a powerful clinch but Kota Murata kept a whizzer and got the position each time it went to the ground. Standing, Murata also had the edge with a knock down in the first. Takano also had nothing for Murata’s punches and ground control in the second, earning Murata the UD.

Opening fights

In the first of two opening fights, Yuma Horiuchi earned himself points with a huge slam of Yuya Kodama at the beginning of the round. Kodama recovered, and tried to stand toe to toe with Kodama. Kodama clobbered him with pinpoint combos. This is a kid to watch out for.

Sporadic striking between Liger Narita and Akirahito Mitoma led to a takedown which favored Mitoma. But Liger tied him up enough to make it a boring first round. Liger dove to be on the bottom for the second, and that’s where he stayed, giving the judges no choice but to award the decision to Mitoma.

UPCOMING (ON TAPOLOGY)

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